High-stakes waiting game grips nation

Published: Thursday, November 09, 2000

Associated Press

In an election for the history books, George W. Bush cautiously declared victory in the presidential race Wednesday even as Al Gore portrayed the outcome as uncertain and said Florida's crucial recount should be conducted ''without any rush to judgment.''

Democrats talked of a potential legal challenge and said it could be days or weeks before the nation knows its next president.

Bush was looking ahead to his transition to power, preparing to announce key roles in his administration for retired Gen. Colin Powell and former Transpor-tation Secretary Andy Card. Running mate Dick Cheney, a former defense secretary under Bush's father, will head the GOP transition team, aides said.

And yet election officials were reviewing vote totals that appeared to give Bush a narrow win in Florida. The state's 25 electoral votes would provide the margin of victory as both Bush and Gore were agonizingly close to the 270 required to win the White House. The Associated Press tally showed Bush leading by nearly 1,800 popular votes out of 6 million cast in the state.

''It's going to be resolved in a quick way,'' Bush said. ''I'm confident that the secretary and I will be the president-elect and the vice president-elect.''

If Bush ends up winning Florida and Gore's lead in the national popular vote holds, Bush would be the fourth man in history the first in more than a century to win the presidency without a popular-vote majority.

Calling this an ''extraordinary moment in our democracy,'' Gore noted that the Constitution awards the presidency to the Electoral College winner, not necessarily the leading vote-getter. ''We are now, as we have been from the moment of our founding, a nation built on the rule of law,'' Gore said.

But the vice president's aides were privately making the case that Gore's popular-vote lead gives him standing to contest the recount if state officials overlook voting irregularities. As Demo-crats searched for potential ballot abuses and questioned the motives of Florida's GOP secretary of state, Gore's staff said a legal challenge was one option.

The Gore campaign hired lawyers to monitor the recount and gather possible evidence in the event of a ballot challenge.

Bush's brother Jeb, governor of Florida, said the recount would be completed by Thursday evening, but Democrats suggested that might not be the end.

''I can't say with certainty when this will be over,'' said Gore campaign chairman William Daley. ''This is the beginning of the process, not the end of the process.''